A Special Trip to London Before the Queen’s Funeral

A group of us took the train to London last Sunday Morning, the day before the Queen’s funeral. We were very lucky that day as the train ran very smoothly. We bought the Super Off-Peak Return tickets, and it cost £25 for each of us. The direct train (The South Western Railway) ran from Eastleigh to London Waterloo. The train was fairly empty and we even had a whole carriage to ourselves. We all felt rather excited about this adventure as it was our first trip to London since the pandemic. Well I guess you might be asking, ‘How was the Queue?’ We didn’t go to London for ‘that’ queue, however we did see the queue of the queue of the queue and it was quite remarkable.

We walked everywhere and were able to avoid most crowds. We saw some flowers tributes at St James’s Park and also placed our card there under a tree. There was a long queue to get into Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace but we decided to avoid this queue and had a relaxing picnic instead (not to forget Marmalade sandwiches).

When was the last time you had a picnic in the park with your adult children? Because of the Queen’s passing, we made this special trip with three handsome lads and got to spend some time with them, so it was quite precious.

The crowd control seemed working well and we were able to walk around the Queen’s procession route with ease. A trip to Trafalgar Square was a must. We also signed a book of condolences at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and also popped by China Town for some cakes.

There were so many flags from the Commonwealth countries and I spotted a familiar one (Malaysian flag).

We found some very lovely gardens and quiet corners to enjoy our day. It might sound odd but I really felt an incredible sense of calm at the centre of historical events last Sunday.

The following day when I watched the Queen’s funearl on television, it felt like I was there as the streets and buildings were so familiar.